The Republicans must hang onto their House majority this November to protect President Trump, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told a closed-door fundraiser in Spokane.

The media was barred from the July 30 event at the Spokane Club, a $250-a-head luncheon for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., but a member of the progressive group Fuse Washington bought a ticket and made a recording.

It shows the raw inside workings of Congress, beyond the soft sound bites and Tweets that McMorris Rodgers crafts as part of her House Republican leadership job.

Nunes, a fierce defender of President Trump, focused on the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller III. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from the case, to the bitter anger of Trump.

A Republican majority is needed to ward off the probe, Nunes said in blunt terms.

Democrats need to pick up 23 seats to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Three GOP-held Washington House seats are in play. Former Washington State University-Spokane Chancellor Lisa Brown is mounting a strong challenge to McMorris Rodgers.

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Nunes and a bevy of ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus members have advocated impeachment of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Mueller probe. House Speaker Paul Ryan has, however, debunked the idea.

Nunes told his Spokane audience that any House vote to impeach Rosenstein might delay Senate confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a cause dear to the hearts of conservatives.

Once again, the inside workings of Washington, D.C.'s conservative elite were on display.

"If we actually vote to impeach, okay, what that does is that triggers the Senate then has to take it up," said Nunes. "Well, and you have to decide what you want right now because the Senate only has so much time.

"Do you want them to drop everything and not confirm the Supreme Court justice, the new Supreme Court justice? The question is the timing of it, right before an election.

"The Senate would have to start, the Senate would have to drop everything they're doing and start to, and start with the impeachment of Rosenstein. And then take the risk of not getting Kavanaugh confirmed. So it's not a matter that any of us like Rosenstein.

"I've said publicly Rosenstein deserves to be impeached. It's a matter of timing."

Nunes recused himself from his committee's Russia investigation last year, following stories of his close ties to the White House.

He has still been on hand to quash subpoenas for witnesses that Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee, including Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash., have wanted to call before the panel.

McMorris Rodgers appeals on the tape as a minor supporting player. She has, however, become the public face on Trump administration policies in Washington, notably with calls to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

McMorris Rodgers endorsed Trump in the May, 2016, Washington presidential primary and has invited him to meetings of the House Republican Caucus.

The tape was made available to the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. NBC/Universal made available major portions of the Nunes transcript to Northwest news media. Fuse Washington did not.

(SeattlePI columnist/blogger Joel Connelly can be reached at joelconnelly@seattlepi.com)

Columnist Joel Connelly has written about politics for the P-I since 1973.